觀音玄義記 3.24

3.24

Fourth, under "Next, clarifying...", he clarifies the universal and the non-universal, in two parts: first, the ordinary and gradual are not universal; second, the Perfect gate is universal, which has two parts: first, directly indicating it in terms of phenomena. The phenomena of the three thousand realms are precisely emptiness, the provisional, and the middle; thus what is penetrated serves as that which penetrates. Outside the gate there is no principle; subject and object are obliterated; thus the meaning of "universal" in this marvelous gate is established. Second, under "Furthermore...", he cites sūtras to explain in detail, which has two parts: first, the Perfect gates of the various sūtras, which has two parts: first, distinctly indicating the four gates, in three parts: first, in terms of two sūtras provisionally categorized under emptiness, in two parts: first, he cites the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa. He does not solely cite the text, as the cited passage already contains the explanatory meaning. That sūtra's text states: "Bodhisattva Śāntimati said: 'Saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are dual. If one perceives the nature of saṃsāra, then there is no saṃsāra, neither bondage nor liberation, neither burning nor extinguishing. One who understands in this way enters the gate of the non-dual Dharma.'" The commentary on that sūtra explains: "Saṃsāra is bondage and burning; nirvāṇa is liberation and extinguishing: these constitute duality. Now contemplating the nature of saṃsāra as originally constantly tranquil: originally being unfree from bondage, what talk could there be of release? Moreover, it also does not burn; how could it be extinguished? Since there is neither burning nor extinguishing, duality no longer exists; this is entering the non-dual gate."